My Father-In-Law

None of can afford to run out of gas in our Christian lives. Keep your tank full.

 

You met my mother-in-law… now meet my father-in-law.

Marriott was a survivor of the wild and often frigid winters of North Dakota. He was an amazing man, strong of opinion, dedicated to getting unheard of deals when he purchased new cars, was a neighborhood hero for coming to anyone’s aid if they needed help, and the dispenser of good advice in almost every circumstance.

The advice that rankled me the most as a young man who had just married his daughter, was when he would peer at my gas gauge and then say, “Never drive on the bottom half of your gas tank!”

I’m sure that that bit of wisdom came from a fear of having to walk back to the farm after running out of gas… in a full-blown blizzard. Nevertheless, I would internally be thinking “It takes two months for you to use half a tank. I’d have to fill up twice a week to keep it in the top half.” But I nodded my head in silent agreement.

In time I realized the wisdom in keeping my tank as full as possible as often as possible.

In our spiritual walk with God, we can never afford to ‘run out of gas’ – for our sakes and for those around us who await the news of our changed lives. God has invested far too much in each of us to have us walking an hour back to a gas station leaving our testimony on the side of the road. Look at how and with what God fills us up:

 

“For it was I, the Lord your God,who rescued you from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will FILL IT with good things.”

Psalm 81:10

 

 “He FILLS my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!”

Psalm 103:5

 

 “For he satisfies the thirst and FILLS the hungry with good things.”

Psalm 107:9

 

 “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us

 because he has given us the Holy Spirit to FILL our hearts with his love.”

Romans 5:5

 

 “I pray that God, the source of hope, will FILL you completely with joy and peace

because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope

 through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:13

Don’t forget that the peace, joy and ‘good things’ in you are in short supply by many around you. Keep your tank full even as you give it all away!

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